Windsor Terrace: Less Way Station, More Destination

Brick rowhouses like these on Seeley Street are in great demand; they can sell for about half as much as they would in neighboring Park Slope.Credit
Suzanne DeChillo/The New York Times

For decades the curved, somewhat comma-like shape of Windsor Terrace, in central Brooklyn, seemed almost to symbolize its role: a kind of geographic pause between larger flanking neighborhoods. Squeezed between Park Slope and the various parts of the Flatbush area, and linking them in the process, Windsor Terrace never really achieved the stature of its bigger-name peers.

But after years of sprucing up its parks and adding stylish restaurants, while aggressively protecting its porch-fronted rowhouses from out-of-scale development, the area has become a top-choice destination. Period. Brick rowhouses are the most sought-after, along with wood-frame townhouses, and in the heart of the neighborhood a lack of through streets keeps things quiet.

Longtime residents, who at times have labored to explain to out-of-towners where they live, express their amazement at the transformation.

“Fortunately we bought when we did, otherwise we would never be able to afford this place now,” said Geraldine Cassone, 53, who has spent nearly her entire life in Windsor Terrace. In 1992, Ms. Cassone, a retired special-education administrator, paid $172,000 for a Queen Anne that has multiple porches and a backyard view of Prospect Park.

Though as a “handyman special” it needed a great deal of work — new windows, a roof and a kitchen, among other things — it could sell today for nearly $2 million, Ms. Cassone said, basing her estimate on recent area sales. She shares the home with her husband, Paul, and their two children.

Beyond being a successful investment, Windsor Terrace is appealing for its neighborliness; residents look out for one another at all hours of the day. Offering an example of this interconnectedness, Ms. Cassone described recently logging on, for the first time, to a blog dedicated to local goings-on, only to learn that her dog, Princess, whom she had seen in the yard moments earlier — and who is distinctive in having lost one of her legs — was on the loose. “I thought my husband was playing a joke on me,” she said.

And on the Facebook page dedicated to Dari Litchman’s building not long ago, “My neighbor was like: ‘Who has dried cranberries I can borrow? I will return them tomorrow.’ ” Ms. Litchman lives in a two-bedroom prewar co-op for which her husband, Jonathan Dahan, paid around $100,000 in 2001. The place could sell for about five times that today, said Ms. Litchman, who works as a real estate agent.

A grassroots group of which Ms. Litchman is the lead organizer, Friends of Greenwood Playground, has worked for nearly a decade to improve a triangular public space adjacent to the Prospect Expressway, turning it into a social hub for parents and children in the process. And this month the group is turning its sights outward, asking residents to donate toys, child car seats and strollers for infants living in poverty in Brooklyn, she said.

When Ms. Litchman moved here a decade ago from Canarsie, people would scratch their heads when she gave the neighborhood’s name. Now, “everybody knows somebody who lives here,” she concluded. “It’s definitely gained respect.”

Correction: December 15, 2013

A picture last Sunday with the “Living In” article, in which a two-family rowhouse at 1658 10th Avenue in Windsor Terrace, Brooklyn, was on the market for $1.849 million, erroneously showed parts of two other houses. Only part of the two-family rowhouse was shown, at the right.

What You’ll Find

The neighborhood of about 20,000 people is sandwiched on about half a square mile between Green-Wood Cemetery and Prospect Park, whose leafy grounds lend a countrified air. Many define the other borders as Prospect Park West and Caton Avenue.

It may be compact, but it doesn’t feel cramped. Stop signs, instead of lights, give many blocks a small-town vibe, which is reinforced by an abundance of American flags. On Howard Place, which is a block long, columned porches and stained-glass windows grace century-old homes. Many homes along Windsor Place have bay windows, both rounded and faceted; they look out over London plane trees, whose thick old roots have dislodged sidewalks in some places. Temple Court has clapboard Italianates, with cornices painted blue, green and purple. And facing the often-jammed Prospect Expressway, which tore up much of the neighborhood when built in the 1950s, a well-kept Second Empire had marigolds in its window boxes.

Though tall co-ops face Prospect Park, Windsor Terrace has been kept mostly low-slung. In the early 1990s, residents persuaded the city to rezone a section to prevent a developer from putting up a 22-story condo on Prospect Park Southwest. The final version, called Windsor Tower, clocks in at 10. In 2009 the city similarly down-zoned a nearby area once known for its horse stables.

Not that there aren’t apartment buildings. A seven-story rental from the Hudson Companies with 73 units is to open in 2015, said David Kramer, a firm principal. There is also a condo at 279 Prospect Park West, between 17th and 18th Streets, in a former paint factory, which was used as a stand-in for a bank in the 1970s heist movie “Dog Day Afternoon,” according to historical accounts.

Crime rates have plummeted since the 1980s, though statistics have lately been troubling. In 2012 there were two murders in the 72nd precinct, which also includes Sunset Park and Greenwood Heights, but there had been five this year as of late last month, according to police data. There were 177 robberies in 2012, 203 so far in 2013. Cellphone thefts have accounted for some of the crime, said Jeremy Laufer, district manager of Brooklyn Community Board 7.

What You’ll Pay

Late last month 15 properties were on the market, including co-ops, condos, townhouses and multifamilies, according to Streeteasy.

At the high end was a three-story corner building, dating to the 1920s, with two apartments upstairs and retail space on the ground floor, at $2.3 million. The least expensive offering was a studio in the Park Vanderbilt, a postwar co-op, at $255,000.

With so few properties trading hands, it can be tough to draw meaningful conclusions from sales data, though prices have steadily improved since the recession, brokers said. But rowhouses can trade for half as much as they would in Park Slope, which is slightly closer to Manhattan and which many still consider more desirable, brokers say.

What to Do

Windsor Terrace has beefed up its retail offerings in recent years, particularly along Fort Hamilton Parkway, where coffee shops, yoga studios and vegetarian restaurants have popped up.

New bars like Double Windsor, known for its craft beers, have also energized Prospect Park West, the main shopping area. Yet a retro look persists: The motorized horse outside Windsor Shoes costs a quarter a ride.

A Key Food on Prospect Avenue, one of the few places to buy groceries, recently closed to make way for a Walgreens pharmacy, upsetting many residents. Fighting back under the slogan “green beans not Walgreens,” they got Walgreens to create space for a small outpost of the store under its roof; that opens next spring.

The Schools

Many students attend Public School 130, the Parkside School, which runs through Grade 5, with a diverse student body of 590. On 2013 state exams, 38 percent of third-graders met standards in math, 34 percent in English.

Middle School 88 in Park Slope, which enrolls 1,100, got an A on its most recent city report card.

Brooklyn College Academy nearby has one of its two buildings on Coney Island Avenue; the other, for juniors and seniors, is at Brooklyn College. SAT averages in 2012 were 456 in reading, 456 in math and 440 in writing, versus 434, 461 and 430 citywide.

The Commute

The F and G trains stop at the edges of the neighborhood, at 15th Street-Prospect Park and at Fort Hamilton Parkway. The F reaches Midtown in about 40 minutes.